The Padres just announced that they have avoided arbitration with left-hander Clayton Richard by agreeing to a one-year contract. Corey Brock of MLB.com hears that the deal is worth $5.24 million.

Richard, who was arbitration-eligible for the second time this winter, earned $2.705 million last season while posting a 3.99 ERA and 107/42 K/BB ratio over 218 2/3 innings. The 29-year-old requested $5.55 million and was offered $4.91 million by the Padres when arbitration figures were exchanged last month, so the two sides settled for a little over the midpoint.

There’s some significance to this agreement, as Richard was the lone arbitration-eligible player left unsigned in MLB. This means that there won’t be a single arbitration hearing in MLB this winter. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal notes that under the current set-up, there has never been a year with fewer than three arbitration hearings until now. That’s a pretty good indication of labor peace.

Useful guy to have around, glad he’s in the fold. That K rate is woeful and has been trending downward, but he slashed his walk rate last year so it’s not all bad. Plus he ate a lot of innings which is plenty valuable on an injury-ravaged pitching staff.